Check Answer

Middle of the Road: Solution

By Andrew Chen and Tal Achituv

Answer:MEDIAN

The locations of each of the 24 GeoGuessr puzzles form 12 pairs that co-exist along the same Interstate or US Highway. Following these routes from point to point, the city exactly halfway in between is a namesake for a historical US executive officer—including some that no longer formally exist (Secretary of War, Postmaster General). The namesakes of the cities correspond to the first names in the list on the side, ordered alphabetically by last name.

Among these 12 officers, there exist 6 pairs that shared the same office with each other. These pairs also share identical location-to-location distances geographically. From these 6 pairs, identify the person who served in that office halfway between each pair member ordinally (i.e. Presidents James Madison (4th) and John Tyler (10th) give Andrew Jackson (7th)).

Extract the middle letter of the last names of these in-between officers (they all have an odd number of letters). Order by increasing location-to-location distance to obtain the answer, MEDIAN.

To aid extraction, the locations are ordered as symmetric tetrads; [1] and [24] are same-road pairs (with the one farther west as the lower number), which pair with [2] and [23] to form same-office pairs. The pair-distances are smallest in the ends of the list (1, 2, 23, 24) and grow inwards, such that the answer can be read from outside-in.

#

GeoGuessr coordinate

Route

Dist. (mi)

Midpoint

Namesake

Office

Midpoint officer

1

40.917393, -91.417756

US-34

84

Kirkwood, IL

Samuel Kirkwood (14th)

Secretary of the Interior

Lucius LAMAR (16th)

24

41.139390, -90.163656

2

35.652670, -97.444480

US-77

Noble, OK

John Noble (18th)

23

34.641549, -97.181874

3

35.316187, -84.798623

I-75

138

Knoxville, TN

Henry Knox (1st)

Secretary of War

Timothy PICKERING (2nd)

22

36.769238, -84.170351

4

38.948782, -79.858235

US-219

McHenry, MD

James McHenry (3rd)

21

40.213484, -78.956923

5

41.383298, -83.028903

I-90

180

Wickliffe, OH

Charles Wickliffe (11th)

Postmaster General

Alexander RANDALL (22nd)

20

42.131257, -79.941031

6

37.170144, -103.879893

US-160

Vilas, CO

William Vilas (33rd)

19

37.559983, -100.870712

7

36.159158, -115.160355

I-15

248

Washington, UT

George Washington (1st)

President

James MADISON (4th)

18

38.637935, -112.608545

8

35.725974, -90.031040

I-55

Jackson, MO

Andrew Jackson (7th)

17

38.716553, -89.921667

9

39.762267, -94.456849

US-36

298

Monroe City, MO

James Monroe (7th)

Secretary of State

John Quincy ADAMS (8th)

16

39.833352, -89.151872

10

38.481878, -90.844517

US-50

Clay City, IL

Henry Clay (9th)

15

38.936378, -85.933733

11

41.590656, -75.804776

US-11

348

Adams, NY

John Adams (1st)

Vice President

Richard JOHNSON (9th)

14

44.986286, -73.363417

12

35.555825, -82.829806

I-40

Colfax, NC

Schuyler Colfax (17th)

13

34.807841, -77.990309

In addition, here is a guide to solving each of these locations; they typically involve finding an exit sign or a local business sign, which can be Google searched to attain the original location. No location requires venturing more than a handful of clicks (other than for enjoying the landscape).

#

GeoGuessr Coordinate

Example Solution

Route

1

40.917393, -91.417756

Forward, onto the bridge for numerous town and road signs.

US-34

24

41.139390, -90.163656

Left or right 8 screens brings you to an intersection with road signs

2

35.652670, -97.444480

One step away to see sign: Best Western Edmond Inn & Suites

US-77

23

34.641549, -97.181874

Forward 6 screens brings you to “Welcome to Wynnewood”

3

35.316187, -84.798623

Forward 3 screens to see sign: Hiwassee River, McMinn Co

I-75

22

36.769238, -84.170351

Backwards along the road for 6 screens for Exit 15 Williamsburg

4

38.948782, -79.858235

Turn around for highway signs, back one screen to see many road markers.

US-219

21

40.213484, -78.956923

Cross the street is a sign marking Jerome route 601

5

41.383298, -83.028903

Forward 2 screens to see a bridge marked: Shiets Road

I-90

20

42.131257, -79.941031

Turn around for a sign marking Penn State Erie Behrend college

6

37.170144, -103.879893

Go either forward or backwards a couple screens to see road signs: US-160+CO-389

US-160

19

37.559983, -100.870712

In the same screen there are town distances, cross the road for highway signs